JV boys basketball lose second (and final) conference game to Rams

By: Dillon Cooper

The Pittsford Wildcats, who were coming off of the wrong side of a blow-out in their previous game, were now at home looking to redeem themselves from their poor performance on Tuesday night and were looking forward to a piece of the conference title! The antagonist in this affair was the North Adams-Jerome Rams. Despite playing hard, the Wildcats would increase their losing skid to two games and pick up loss number seven, dropping the ball in this game by the final score of 54-35.

From the start, the Rams would come out on a rampage, eager to run up an early tally and blow the ‘Cats right out of their own gymnasium. P-ford would find themselves down 6-0, and head coach Mr. Hodos quickly recognized that his team had to get their head on straight and burned an early time-out in this heated battle. Pittsford would come out of the time out and break the full-court press set by the skilled Rams. A fast break had provided a 2-on-1 advantage that lead to the first deuce of the game for the Wildcats. “Their pressure was pretty tight and that made us turn the ball over too many times,” recalled freshman Blake Toner. Pittsford would score some more, but never really catching up to their superior foe.

At halftime you could see the long faces on the disappointed players that wore the bright white uniforms. The ‘Cats would come out of the locker room and step up their game with a physical performance, scoring two quick baskets and stiffening their play on the defensive end. You could tell that the momentum was shifting, until turnovers became the theme of this team. Pittsford would make too many costly turnovers that resulted in points off the fast break, or possessions that ate valuable time off that precious, glowing clock. At the end the Wildcats were disappointed with their efforts knowing that they could have made this game a little bit closer and gave the fans a little more for their money.

Even though the Wildcats lost to the Rams for the second time this season, there are still some things not to frown about. The Wildcats finished second in their conference with only two losses (both to NA-J) and finished with a record of 12-2 in the conference and an overall record of 12-7. P-ford will play their last game tonight against the Hudson Tigers and hopefully they’ll walk off the hardwood and into the locker room as the victors and get that magical, lucky win number 13!